Whatever Comes Next

One of the most exciting things about the last few months has been having time to think about what I want to be when I grow up. I kicked around a bunch of different ideas like “Fallout 4 expert” and a bunch of other fun sounding but impractical ideas. None of them seemed to fit. So I looked at what did seem to fit.

When I asked “what’s been the most interesting and fun thing over the last few years?” there was an answer that kept popping up: academia.

I will devour all these books!

Academia?!

Yeah, academia.

I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve spent reading computer science papers, discussing them with other people who are into that sort of thing, and reading blogs like The Morning Paper. I have no delusions that academic study is a tea party where people talk about things (well, it is if you get an English degree, which I already did).

Joking aside, I like the theoretical side of computers and I want to explore it. Peter Bailis summed up the joy of graduate school in his post “I Loved Graduate School“.

Exploring Computers

With all that in mind, I’m starting a master’s program in Computer Science at Portland State University. Since I don’t have a CS degree already, I’m going through the Graduate Preparation Track in Computer Science. Basically, I take the core classes of a computer science bachelor’s degree and then immediately go into a master’s degree. And, beyond that, I’d love to continue on and get a PhD in CS.

The work of friends and acquaintances has made this an easier path to follow – knowing other people who have gone through this journey makes it seem all that much more possible for me to do the same.

Thank you to all of you who have encouraged and supported me along the way. You’ve been awesome.

Good luck Jeremiah, this truly will be an exciting journey! The great thing about graduate school, when compare to undergrad, is if you truly love the topic…it’s not work! I look forward to reading your research!

I did a similar thing by getting an M.S. in Computer Science to legitimize my career given my Liberal Arts background. At first I chose a database track but then I found I could not deal with the database track. It was a lot modeling in anachronistic formats and a lot of Oracle bias. I know you would be fine with that, and would make convincing arguments for other platforms.

Hah! That doesn’t sound like fun. I don’t know what the database courses will focus on, but I’ll be looking at a research focused degree, which should make the platform specificity more my choice than anything else.

I was a bit worried when I went in to talk to an admissions person because it turned out that to get a second bachelor’s would’ve taken almost as long as the first one, but this grad prep track is all about fast tracking you into graduate school. Good times!